Back in the old, old days, I saw three James Bond movies ("Dr. No," "Goldfinger," "Thunderball") back to back to back on one matinee Saturday. I believe it cost my ten-year old self seventy-five cents.
We went in, my friends and I, in 11 AM sunshine. When we came out, flushed with catharsis, the sun was on its way down, but it still dazzled us. I had the sense that I had done something truly significant.
The day was like one at the Festival of Dionysus, Athens, 5th century BC. At that festival you saw three serious plays per day and one funny one, for three days straight. All the plays on each day came from one mythological story cycle, such as the Trojan War or Heracles.
Bond is unmistakably Anglo-American myth, as "Skyfall," the 23rd Bond movie, reminds us at the end. Bond the movie franchise is now fifty years old. And as the movie also reminds us, there will be another Bond movie coming down the line.
What is it that hooked my ten-year old self? Was it the ejector seats, the explosions, the obligatory mass fight sequences at the end?
Well, no, it wasn't. It was the resurrection.
Bond, James Bond, always seemed to find a way singlehandedly to save himself and the free world, such as when he pulled at a random wire in "Goldfinger" and the nuclear bomb detonator stopped at the famous time of 007 seconds.
For me back then and anyone else with the faith needed to be taken in by the story, the being saved at the end was the thing. Everything else was cool, impossibly cool. But resurrection was why you went. If Bond didn't win, there was no reason to be there.
Nowadays, Bond is complex. The cinematography, the tortured psyche of Bond (Daniel Craig) himself, and the plot, which revolves around the "sins" of MI6, the British spy service, and its less-than-perfect head, M (Dame Judi Dench).
There is a death and resurrection at the beginning of the movie, in fact, as Bond is "killed" but can't stay dead for some reason (we are not told how he survived this death). Later, when someone asks him what his business is, he says "resurrection."
So "Skyfall" is very meta, very self-aware, very pomo. But it's a different kind of self-awareness.
Back in the day, Bond was very self-aware, very arched eyebrow. The resurrection was always in some way both dramatic and comedic. There was a tacit understanding between the grownups and the filmmaker that this isn't quite, quite serious. But it was still thrilling.
Now, gone the villain that wants to take over the world. Gone the henchman with the bladed frisbee hat. Gone the cheesy, unbelievable special effects. Gone even the paunchy, un-buff Bond of the later films (such as Roger Moore) whom you could certainly see sipping a martini but not punching out a bad guy. Daniel Craig, "old" as he is, is one ripped customer.
This Bond is somehow much more sincere, much more serious. It's no longer just fun. And I think the actors are grateful for that, the director is grateful for that, the cinematographer is grateful for that. They do a good job creating a Bond film that makes sense even though it is still pretty cheesy and unbelievable in its own way.
And the resurrection at the end, well, it's good, too. Very pomo. But very serious nonetheless.
What a delicate dance to have to perform. And they do it. Making art, making mythology is so difficult to do well. This is good art, and good myth. Bravo, Bond.
Image from here.